Career Journal: How to Motivate Employees

Creating informal spaces where people can interact without being conscious of hierarchy is one way to make the office more fun, say human resource experts.

Employees who are not enthusiastic about their work can be a big problem for managers. These employees are not only less productive, but their lack of motivation for tasks can also affect the morale of the rest of the team, say human resources experts.

Here are some tips for managers to keep their employees motivated at work:

Because it’s their company so they care about making it a success, according to Mr. Glick.

Managers should try to instill a similar sense of ownership among employees, so that they care enough to make it a success, the professor added.

One of the ways to do this is by explaining to employees how their work impacts the business. When new employees join, they should be told not only what their job is, but how it fits into what the company does.

Mr. Glick says managers don’t realize that employees are sometimes clueless about the company’s direction, or why they are working on a particular project.

He advises managers to take time to have periodic meetings with their team to share any changes taking place in the company and to help them understand the business in the bigger picture.

This in turn will help to make the company more cohesive.

Employees can have valuable perspectives on the project they are working on or other strategy decisions, and consulting them shows staff that their opinions matter.

Challenge: Managers should ask themselves if their employees are “challenged enough with new things,” said Nagarajan Balanaga, vice president of human resources at Pune-based Cummins India Ltd., manufacturer of engine and generators.

Mr. Balanaga suggests two ways to do this.

One is to give the employee a new project in which he or she doesn’t have experience. Giving staff responsibility for a unknown project enables them to learn, pushes their boundaries and makes them more engaged in the work, Mr. Balanaga said.

If a project can’t be handed over to a particular employee, Mr. Balanaga recommends asking them to work closely with someone who has a new or challenging project.

Don’t force employees to do new things, because not everyone may want to, he adds. If required, let the employee choose, and give guidance as needed, Mr. Balanaga suggests.

It’s important that staff are appreciated not only when they do extraordinary work but also for the smaller daily tasks, said P. Vaidyanathan, India head of human resources of Alten Calsoft Labs, a Chennai-based engineering and technology consultancy.

It always helps if the head of the department or the chief executive officer also praises employees once in a while, he says.

Of course, salary increments go a long way to motivate employees, as do other non-monetary benefits like travel expenses and crèche facilities.

Make the office fun: Another source of motivation, especially for younger employees, is the office environment.

Creating informal spaces where people can interact without being conscious of hierarchy is one way to make the office more fun, say human resource experts.

Some other ways to encourage more interaction include celebrating festivals as an office, playing sport together after work, or holding monthly talks on non-work related topics in lunch-hours.

Mr. Vaidyanathan says his company organizes a series of cricket matches among the staff in offices in Chennai, Bangalore and Mysore every year. The company also sends a so-called Monday motivator, an e-mail with an inspirational story and a quote aimed at making the start of the week easier, he adds.

But there is only so much that companies and managers can do. Employees, here are a few tips you can use to motivate yourself at work.

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